Indian Navy Developments & Discussions

WolfPack86

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Navy may take light utility helicopters on lease
After maritime surveillance drones, the Navy is considering taking light utility helicopters on lease to plug a vital capability gap in frontline warships. The plan is to use the newly instituted lease option in the procurement policy as a make-shift arrangement as a program to manufacture naval utility helicopters in India under the strategic partnership model is still lingering.

Sources said that foreign vendors have been approached by the Navy to understand if such choppers – typically used to transport supplies and personnel between ships with a secondary surveillance role – would be available for short term lease.

The Navy is looking to lease 12-18 choppers on an urgent basis where the maintenance would be done by the vendor but the helicopters would be operated by a service crew. While formal tenders to initiate the process are yet to be issued, the Navy is looking at a four-year lease to meet immediate needs.


There is an acute shortage of such helicopters in the Navy that had been relying on its ageing fleet of Chetak choppers for a ship borne role. With the indigenous Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) unable to operate from smaller vessels due to their size, frontline warships being commissioned suffer a distinct capability gap.

Sources said that plans as of now are to take just the choppers on lease, which would later be retrofitted with light weapons by the Navy, as per its requirement. The choppers are likely to be armed only with a machine gun during the lease period.

The Navy has been pursuing a Rs 21,000 crore Make in India contract to acquire Naval Utility Helicopters (NUH) but the program has been delayed after complications over the entry of public sector unit Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).

While the Navy is not in favour of HALs inclusion, arguing that there is a dire need to establish alternative capability in the private sector to manufacture modern aircraft, HAL has been pushing the case for an naval version of the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH).

The navy is already operating the ALH in a utility role but requires 111 helicopters for deployment onboard ships to carry out multiple roles, including surveillance and ferrying supplies. The requirement is urgent and a specialised chopper is needed that can be quickly deployed and retrieved and can be stored in the space constrained hangar onboard all vessels.

The process to acquire the choppers is already in advanced stages with four Indian companies shortlisted who can partner with a foreign technology provider to make the helicopters domestically.
 

vishnugupt

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Alert:

What IAF did to Su-30mki for just to import Rafale same is being done to Mig 29K by IN. A case being built by IN for more import and kickback. IN is actually reflecting import-hungry IAF

Our Cry babies need more shiny toys as they no longer enjoy existing toys brought by them after thorough trials and evaluations. They are just throwing them from the sky.

dalaals are sipping wine and Hyenas are lurking.
 

shuvo@y2k10

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Actually, conflicting reports are coming.
few days back, it was reported that the requirement of imported carrier based fighter is reduced from 57 to about 20, and the Navy is planning to drop it completely and focus on TEDBF.
Now, media reports have emerged that Navy wants to import fighters jointly with IAF.
 

samsaptaka

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View attachment 68861
Important excerpts from the article:-



Sorry, but this does not make any sense whatsoever. So the only reason Indian Navy introduced these uniforms was because they felt "out of place" at joint exercises with other Navies? What The Actual Fig? I hope this is not the ONLY reason for introducing this uniform, makes Navy look like a bunch of clueless teenagers with FOMO syndrome. Someone please explain to me the practical utility of these uniforms.

Meanwhile, US Navy is ditching these uniforms (they're calling it their worst uniform ever):




And replacing them with new fire-retardant ones:



https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2019/02/25/new-uniforms-revealed-fashionable-and-free/

The US Navy is doing that because their "camo" uniform is not fire retardant. But this Print article also states that the new uniform will not be worn onboard Indian Naval ships because these new Indian Navy "camo" uniforms are also not fire retardant and that fire retardant uniforms are already in use with Navy onboard ships.
So what in the hell is the bloody point?
The article says that while on duty on the ship fire retardant overalls will still be used.
This new uniform is only for shore duty and fridays.

Ya'll Nibbiara All Talwar class frigates are deployed from Mumbai. The ships are deployed in counter-piracy missions in the Arabian Sea & also carry out HDR missions when needed. They frequently visit ports of the neighboring Gulf & African nations. 6 of them are in service, 4 more ordered.
The first pic is beautiful ! Like a Trishula
 

WolfPack86

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Indian Navy wants to join IAF in fighter jet shopping
The Navy is looking to combine its multi-role carrier-based fighter jet procurement tender along with the IAF tender for 114 fighters that is under way. The development comes following a decision to cut down the numbers to be procured following the indigenous development proposal by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

“We have the MiG-29K operating from the Vikramaditya and will operate from the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC)-I. To replace them, we have taken up a case for the Multi-Role Carrier Borne Fighters (MRCBF) which we are trying to do along with the IAF,” Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh said last week without elaborating. “The Navy has approached the IAF and we are awaiting their response,” another Navy official said on condition of anonymity.

On the Navy’s fighter procurement plans, Adm. Singh said the new development has been the Twin Engine Carrier Based Deck Fighter (TEBDF) which the DRDO and the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) have offered. He said they are working together to make sure that happens. It then “will have an indigenous deck based fighter for the Navy”.


Adm. Singh said many lessons have been learn from the Naval LAC-MK1 programme like the arrestor hook and under carriage and so on and more lessons are being learnt through the Shore-Based Test Facility (SBTF) in Goa. “My hope is that the TBDRF would be able to enter service sometime in the early 2030s.”

Cutting down numbers

In 2017, the Navy has floated a Request For Information (RFI) to global fighter manufacturers and the response is being evaluated. However, with the new jet under development and also factoring in budgetary constraints, the Navy is in the process of cutting down the number of fighters from 57 to around 36. The final decision is awaited.

To further optimise the process, it is now looking to combine it with the IAF. However, it has to be seen how this is taken forward as the IAF RFI was open to both single and twin-engine fighters while the Navy has a stated requirement for a twin-engine jet to operate off its carriers.

The Navy has 45 Russian MiG-29K and it had said earlier there will not be enough aircraft to operate from both carriers. The response to the RFI from Boeing with its F-18 Super Hornet and Dassault Aviation with its Rafale jets are being evaluated. Both companies had said their jets can operate off the ski-jump of the Vikramaditya and in future the IAC-I Vikrant.

In fact, a Navy team was to visit the US Naval Air Station in Maryland early this year to witness a demonstration from Boeing on the compatibility of its F-18 Super Hornet to take off and land from the decks of Indian carriers. However, the visit was deferred due to the pandemic.
 
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Guys if INS Vikrant (R11) can be converted from CATOBAR to STOBAR, can STOBAR type be converted to CATOBAR or is it impossible??

Can't we build another ship like VIKRANT (IAC 1) and make it STOBAR like Chrles De Gaulle?
 

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